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Autopsies of deceased boxers and pro football players have long confirmed that repeat head injuries can lead to a devastating brain condition known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Now, research supports the notion that contact sports can also raise the odds for a Parkinson’s-like disease, called parkinsonism, in athletes already affected by CTE. In the new study, “subjects with parkinsonism were more likely to have more severe CTE-related brain cell death in a region of the brainstem important for controlling movement,” noted study lead author Dr. Thor Stein. He’s an associate professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at Boston University. The study involved postmortem examination of the brains of 481 deceased athletes. It was published July 15 in the journal JAMA Neurology. As the researchers described it, parkinsonism carries some of the hallmarks of classic Parkinson’s disease — tremor, slowed movements, abnormal stiffness in the limbs. The two conditions differ, however, in how they manifest in brain tissue. People with Parkinson’s disease typically show a buildup of proteins called Lewy bodies in their brain cells, but the new research found no such buildup in the brains of about three-quarters of people with CTE and parkinsonism. “We were surprised to find that most individuals with CTE and parkinsonism did not have Lewy body pathology,” Stein noted in a university news release. So, what’s driving the parkinsonism? According… read on > read on >

Defiance, tantrums, aggression: All signs of a condition called conduct disorder, which Mental Health America says affects up to 16% of boys and 9% of girls. Now, research is revealing real differences in the brain structure of children and youths with conduct disorder, compared to those without the condition. Specifically, the study of the brains of people ages 7 through 21 found that the brain’s outer layer, the cerebral cortex, was smaller than is typical for people with conduct disorder. “Conduct disorder has among the highest burden of any mental disorder in youth,” noted study co-author Dr. Daniel Pine. “However, it remains understudied and under-treated.” “Understanding brain differences associated with the disorder takes us one step closer to developing more effective approaches to diagnosis and treatment, with the ultimate aim of improving long-term outcomes for children and their families,” said Pine. He’s chief of the Section on Development and Affective Neuroscience at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH). The new study was published July 16 in the journal Lancet Psychiatry. In their research, Pine and his colleagues used MRI scans to examine the brains of about 2,400 children and youth who’d enrolled in 15 different studies from around the world. About half of the participants had been diagnosed with conduct disorder while the other half had not. The scans looked specifically at the thickness… read on > read on >

Dropping weight prior to competition is a common practice among athletes. But starving oneself prior to an intense athletic event is likely a wrongheaded, self-defeating practice, a new study warns. Triathletes who ate less prior to competition lost more muscle mass and performed poorly, compared to their function after they followed a sensible diet, researchers found. “There is no doubt that this practice greatly impairs one’s performance as an athlete, even over shorter periods of time,” said lead researcher Jan Sommer Jeppesen, a doctoral student with the University of Copenhagen in Denmark. Attempts to lose weight prior to competition might be driven by a belief that fewer pounds will enhance performance, or by a desire to look “lean and mean” when hitting the field, researchers said. Regardless, it’s a widespread phenomenon among athletes, particularly those in endurance sports like running, swimming, cycling and rowing, researchers said. “It is particularly problematic among female endurance athletes. Many athletes focus heavily on weight in their respective sports. Consequently, they tend to go into short-term, but intense periods of weight loss with the expectation of performing better,” said senior researcher Ylva Hellsten, a professor with the University of Copenhagen’s Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports. But not eating enough is associated with missed periods, compromised bone health, changes in metabolism, and other health effects that could actually hamper an… read on > read on >

Early exposure to antibiotics might increase a kid’s risk of asthma by altering their gut bacteria, a new mouse study finds. Antibiotics could specifically lower gut production of indole propionic acid (IPA), a biochemical that’s crucial to long-term protection against asthma, researchers reported July 15 in the journal Immunity. “We have discovered that a consequence of antibiotic treatment is the depletion of bacteria that produce IPA, thus reducing a key molecule that has the potential to prevent asthma,” said lead researcher Ben Marsland, a professor of immunology with Monash University in Australia. When given antibiotics in early life, lab mice became more susceptible to allergic reactions to dust mites, researchers found. Human asthma is commonly triggered by exposure to dust mites. This susceptibility to dust mite allergens continued in the mice long-term, even after their gut microbiome and IPA levels returned to normal, researchers said. That suggests that IPA’s function in establishing a healthy immune response is particularly important in early life, the researchers noted. What’s more, when the mice had their diet supplemented with IPA early in life, they were effectively cured of dust mite allergies and asthma. “The use of antibiotics in the first year of life can have the unintentional effect of reducing bacteria which promote health,” Marsland said in a university news release. “We now know from this research that antibiotics… read on > read on >

The stress of living in a poor neighborhood might contribute to higher rates of aggressive prostate cancer in Black men, a new study warns. Black men are more than twice as likely to die from prostate cancer than white men, and more likely to develop it as well, the researchers noted. This could be due in part to living in disadvantaged neighborhoods, which is associated with significantly higher activity in genes related to stress, according to the new research. These genes, activated by extreme hardship or trauma, can set off a cascade of events that increase risk of cancer, researchers explained. “Our findings suggest an impact of living in disadvantaged neighborhoods — which more commonly affects African Americans — on stress-related genetic pathways in the body,” said senior researcher Kathryn Hughes Barry, an associate professor of epidemiology and public health at the University of Maryland School of Medicine. “We believe this may increase an individual’s risk of aggressive prostate cancer and contribute to prostate cancer disparities by race,” Barry added in a university news release. For the study, researchers analyzed 105 stress-related genes in more than 200 Black and white men with prostate cancer. All of the men underwent surgery to remove their prostate at the University of Maryland Medical Center between 1992 and 2021. The research team used the men’s address at the time… read on > read on >

An experimental blood test might be able to predict whether glaucoma patients will continue to lose their vision following treatment, researchers report. A biochemical called nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) tends to be lower in people with glaucoma compared to those without the eye disease, researchers found. What’s more, glaucoma patients with lower NAD levels than others tended to lose their vision more quickly, even after receiving treatment to lower fluid pressure in the eye. A clinical test based on NAD levels “would enable clinicians to predict which patients are at higher risk of continued vision loss, allowing them to be prioritized for more intensive monitoring and treatment,” said senior researcher David Garway-Heath, a professor with the University College London Institute of Ophthalmology. NAD is made from the vitamin B3 and is linked to how much oxygen is used by blood cells in the body, researchers explained. Glaucoma occurs when pressure builds up inside the eye, damaging the optic nerve that sends signals from the eye to the brain. As nerve cells die, vision diminishes until patients eventually go blind. For this study, researchers studied 139 people receiving standard treatment for glaucoma, which involves medication or surgery intended to lower the fluid pressure within the eyeball. They compared those glaucoma patients to 50 people with good eye health. The team found that people with lower levels… read on > read on >

Pondering a move to a vegetarian or vegan diet? Your heart might be in it, but your genes might not, a new study says. Genetics are an important part of whether a person responds well or poorly to a vegetarian diet, researchers said. People with a specific genetic variant can see increased calcium levels after going vegetarian, which typically results in decreased calcium for most, researchers report in the journal PLOS Genetics. Likewise, another variant saw increased testosterone levels, which typically decline in a majority of vegetarians, researchers said. But a third variant could cause vegetarians to suffer a decline in kidney function, which usually improves on a plant-based diet, researchers said. “People with specific and immediate nutritional requirements related to these three traits should consider being tested for the variants we describe in this manuscript and making changes accordingly,” lead researcher Michael Francis, a doctoral graduate of the University of Georgia’s Institute of Bioinformatics, said in a news release. Francis himself was a vegetarian for seven years in his teens and 20s, but now eats meat as part of his diet. For the study, researchers analyzed data for more than 150,000 people, identifying 2,300 who followed a strict vegetarian diet. They found that in general vegetarians have low levels of cholesterol, which is good for heart health. But a vegetarian diet also is linked… read on > read on >

When it comes to health worries, cancer leads the way, a new poll shows. The University of Cambridge poll included 2,000 adults who said their biggest concern is getting diagnosed with cancer when it’s too late to treat it. Seven in 10 respondents have that fear, while 52% fret about the impact of a cancer diagnosis on loved ones. “Cancer affects one in two of us and understandably induces fear in patients and their families,” said Richard Gilbertson, director of Cancer Research UK Cambridge Center. “People are worried that treatments won’t work or that side effects will be terrible, but also what their diagnosis will mean to their family.” Four in 10 respondents worry about getting access to the right treatment and 36% fretted about treatment side effects, the poll showed. Asked what would make them less fearful of a cancer diagnosis, 6 in 10 said “knowing that the form of cancer I have is treatable.” Just over half (51%) said “knowing we are better at catching cancer early enough to treat.” “Outcomes can be completely transformed — better survival and less invasive treatments — if the cancer is diagnosed early enough,” said Rebecca Fitzgerald, director of the Li Ka Shing Early Cancer Institute at the University of Cambridge. “That’s why a lot of our focus now is on understanding cancer at its very earliest stage… read on > read on >

Roughly 20% of Americans are diagnosed with skin cancer at some point in their lives, but it’s not inevitable. Skin cancer is not only the most common cancer, it’s also the most preventable. Most of the time, too much sun exposure is to blame. “When it comes to skin cancer, prevention is key,” surgical oncologist Dr. Jeffrey Farma said in a news release. “My goal is to ensure patients can enjoy their lives, including time in the sun, while being mindful that even a small skin lesion can quickly escalate into a very serious issue.” Even if you don’t burn easily, whether you’re young or old, you can still get skin cancer, Farma emphasized. Since 2011, rates of the most malignant skin cancer — melanoma — have risen roughly 7% a year, and skin cancer rates have held steady among young people. “We have seen young patients in their 20s who tan a lot and use tanning salons and are unfortunately diagnosed with skin cancer. That diagnosis can completely change their life,” said Farma, co-director of the Melanoma and Skin Cancer Program at Fox Chase Cancer Center in Philadelphia. He is also state chairman of the American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer. To protect yourself while enjoying time outdoors, Farma offers these tips: Use sunscreen properly: Wear a broad-spectrum sunscreen with an SPF of… read on > read on >

Seventeen women in nine states have fallen ill after getting fake Botox shots, with 13 of them landing in the hospital and one requiring a ventilator, a new report warns. In the report, published Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, researchers provided alarming details of patients getting injections outside of a medical setting and then falling ill a few days later. In one instance, four women attended a gathering at a relative’s home in Tennessee to get Botox injected into their faces to smooth fine lines and wrinkles about three days before their symptoms began. An investigation later showed the injected product was counterfeit and was administered by a person who was not licensed to do so. “In some cases, providers were concerned about patients’ breathing to the point where they were admitting them to intensive care units to be able to monitor them more closely,” report author Dr. Christine Thomas, a medical director at the Tennessee Department of Health, told NBC News. She called the situation a “perfect storm.” “We were seeing the injections happening in homes from people who weren’t licensed, and there was counterfeit product,” Thomas said. One of the most frightening cases detailed in the NBC News report involved a Colorado woman who got what she thought was Botox. Her vision soon blurred, and she became unusually… read on > read on >

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All Sauce from Weekly Gravy:

Could Contact Sports Raise Risks for a Parkinson’s-like Disorder?

Brain Changes Seen in Kids With Conduct Disorder

Starving Pre-Performance Won’t Bring Medals: Study

How Early Antibiotic Use Could Raise Kids’ Asthma Risk

Could Living in Poor Neighborhoods Fuel Prostate Cancer in Black Men? Study Says It Might

How to Predict Who Will Respond to Glaucoma Treatment — and Who Won’t

Thinking of a Switch Away from Meat? Your Genes May Be Key

Late Cancer Diagnosis Biggest Health Concern for Most, Poll Shows

Have Fun in the Sun, But Protect Your Skin, Expert Says

Fake Botox Shots Land 13 Women in Hospital